Level-5 Announces Console Title

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Dragon Quest developer bringing new soccer game to consoles.

By John Tanaka

Level-5 held a press conference in Tokyo today to announce cross media plans for Inazuma Eleven, its upcoming fusion of soccer and RPG gaming for the DS. Following details on an anime and trading card game based off the new title came first word of a new console game from the firm.

This second self-published franchise for Level-5 (the first was the Professor Layton series) is going beyond videogames. Level-5 has already announced plans for an Inazuma Eleven comic, which will kick off in Japan's Coro Coro Comics starting on the 15th. To this, the firm also shed light on an anime and a trading card game.

The anime is being produced by OLM, which has worked on a number of hit productions including Pokemon and Deltora Quest. For the Inazuma Eleven anime, we can expect 2D animation mixed with 3D stadium visuals. OLM hopes to get as many of the game's 1000 sub characters into the anime as possible.

The trading card game is being produced by Mitsui Bussan. Test versions of the cards have already been created, and now the design staff is working on finalizing the rules and game systems.

Level-5 president Akihiro Hino saved the real big news for last as he made first mention of the next Inazuma Eleven game. Titled Inazuma Eleven Break!, the new game is being designed for an undisclosed console, making it Level-5's first self-published console game.

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Hino made mention of an expansion for the company into self-published console titles before the end of the year. He hinted that Wii was a strong contender to get the first games from the firm.

All these cross media plans concern Japan only at the moment, as Inazuma Eleven has currently not been announced for release outside of Level-5's home territory. However, given the apparent success of Layton in overseas markets, don't be surprised if you hear more on the franchise in the future.